an accidentally enormous barn-raising

While working with on the last quilt, I couldn't help but fall in love with the Indian Summer prints. Those little foxies! The mountains! The mushrooms and feathers!

Perhaps the hardest thing about sewing something for someone else is that, of course, you have to give the quilt to them when it's finished.

So, in an attempt to make the parting easier, I knew I had to sew something else with the strips and scraps (and other prints from the collection).

In fact, I'd planned to use a lot more prints in the design, but found that a large helping of solids produced the graphic effect I was hoping for. In fact, I'd planned to use so few solids that I began with only one fat quarter of navy -- I was soon back for more, but the original blue I'd used was no longer in stock. And so, knowing that the blues wouldn't all match anyway, I brought home two new shades of navy -- which is now, of course, one of my favourite parts of this quilt; the depth created by several tones of the same colour.

And, in similar "oops!-oh-well-I-like-it fashion", the blocks ended up almost doubly as big as I'd planned -- a whopping 17" instead of 10". This design uses log-cabin blocks in a traditional layout know as a "Barn Raising". Barn Raising quilts often have many concentric diamonds of alternating colours, but here, thanks to the giagantic blocks, the design is enlarged so that two complete diamonds are enough for an entire quilt.  These quilts, they seem to prefer to design themselves!



I've folded it and put this one aside for now, to be tackled after our summer hols, when perhaps I'll have a better idea how to squeeze all this fabric through the tiny little neck of my poor old sewing machine!

summer's light: a finished quilt

 

When I look at this quilt, finished, I can see the bright morning light of July streaming through a (stained-glass) window. A new light, a new life. Warmth, summer, hope.

Somehow, this configuration of triangles, designed simply by putting together fabrics that "felt right" next to each other, seems to have a prismatic effect -- white light, refracted, splitting, bouncing around inside the borders.



The design -- bright solid triangles, limited prints, large white border -- is inspired by a quilt made by Joy of Wildflowers Photography, but featuring a palette that might sit better in a little boy's nursery. As I wrote about earlier, this was a collaborative project. My friend never having made a quilt before, and myself having never sewn a triangle before, we were both extremely surprised by how simply the whole thing seemed to come together. One row at at time, and the points somewhat magically came out pointy!

All of the prints used are from Art Gallery Fabric's Indian Summer collection -- perhaps my favourite collection of the year so far (I got a fat quarter bundle from WestWoodAcres -- they don't seem to have the bundle in stock currently, but do have yardage of the foxy mountains). For this quilt (as it is heavily bulked-up with Kona solids), I used only four fat quarters, and even had plenty of scraps left over from those to carry into the next project!

Pure joy -- the working together, the Southwestern-style colours, the triangles. I have big plans for the rest of the Indian Summer line, and will definitely be having another go at triangles as soon as possible. One for my faithful little assistant, perhaps?

quilting for community

I love to make baby quilts, and often ask my expectant friends for favourite colours or patterns, to give them a little say in the quilt's design and to make sure it looks nice in the nursery. I generally love the surprise factor -- the reveal -- and the many evenings of sewing spent thinking about the recipient.

With this quilt, though, I tried something slightly different -- instead of working on it alone and simply giving away the final product, I walked through the entire process together with my friend , to create this (very, very large) baby quilt for her soon-to-arrive little boy.

We sorted through fabrics together while our combined five children played and squabbled and ate playdough at our feet. We planned out the design, decided on the "right" size of triangle, and then accidentally cut all the fabric to a different size anyway (which is also "right", it seems). We put children to bed and then escaped for evenings of sewing and catching up and the occasional chocolate truffle.

And, it turned out that what I had so arrogantly considered as "my gift to her" turned out to be much more of a gift to me. Several times a week, this amazing friend poured inspiration and encouragement and radical honesty into my life, and showed me a level of community that I hadn't known that I was missing.

How often do we (especially "we" mothers of young children) get to spend one-on-one time with anyone, let alone consistent, regular time with a friend? And how encouraging it is to be able to really listen and really be listened to. Another friend and I catch up properly every six months or so by strapping some combination of our children into the car and driving to IKEA in Houston, and finding our uninterrupted time to talk amidst six lanes of traffic. Perhaps this -- sewing together, collaborating on a quilt or other project -- is an excuse to make time this consistent sort of for one another, with, of course, the added bonus of something beautiful created along the way.



With our holiday to England fast-approaching, this quilt has been fast-tracked, and is all ready for binding today (using this striped mustard fabric cut from a thrifted pillowcase!). More details on the fabrics used when I share the finished photos...